


EXPAND(1L)        MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES         EXPAND(1L)



NAME
     expand - convert tabs to spaces

SYNOPSIS
     expand  [-tab1[,tab2[,...]]]  [-t  tab1[,tab2[,...]]]   [-i]
     [--tabs=tab1[,tab2[,...]]] [--initial] [file...]

DESCRIPTION
     This manual  page  documents  the  GNU  version  of  expand.
     expand  writes the contents of each given file, or the stan-
     dard input if none are given or when a  file  named  `-'  is
     given, to the standard output, with tab characters converted
     to the appropriate number of  spaces.   By  default,  expand
     converts all tabs to spaces.  It preserves backspace charac-
     ters in the output; they decrement the column count for  tab
     calculations.   The  default action is equivalent to -8 (set
     tabs every 8 columns).

  OPTIONS
     -, -_t, --_t_a_b_s _t_a_b_1[,_t_a_b_2[,...]]
          If only one tab stop is given, set the tabs _t_a_b_1 spaces
          apart  instead  of  the  default 8.  Otherwise, set the
          tabs at columns _t_a_b_1, _t_a_b_2, etc. (numbered from 0)  and
          replace  any tabs beyond the tabstops given with single
          spaces.  If the tabstops are specified with the  -_t  or
          --_t_a_b_s  option, they can be separated by blanks as well
          as by commas.

     -_i, --_i_n_i_t_i_a_l
          Only convert initial tabs (those that precede  all  non
          space or tab characters) on each line to spaces.

     The long-named options can be introduced with `+' as well as
     `--',  for compatibility with previous releases.  Eventually
     support for `+' will be removed, because it is  incompatible
     with the POSIX.2 standard.



















Sun Release 4.1           Last change:                          1



